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These files are maintained strictly for historical reference, research, and recordkeeping purposes,
and the content has not been altered or updated since archiving.
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If you require an alternative, accessible format of any information found on this site,
please contact Bruce Jones, bjones@ucsd.edu to request an accommodation.
When one of my colleagues discovered some rampant plagiarism in students' essays, he called the core, which was common to them all, the Ur-essay. Carol On 6 January 2011 18:23, Steve Gabosch <stevegabosch@me.com> wrote: > Yes, very helpful, Andy. Interesting neologism, "Urunit." Your > explanation gives me an intuitive sense, a place to start - and some more > questions. > > Google translates 'Urphaenomen' as 'primary phenomenon' while Babel > translates it as 'elemental phenomenon'. One translation could be seen as > more of a time concept, and the other, spatial, or as you suggest, cellular. > > A little more googling finds 'Ur-' as possibly meaning a number of closely > related concepts, both in terms of 'essential units', and also in terms of > 'genesis'. A list of English substitutes for the German 'Ur-' includes the > ones you mention, original and prototypical, and a few others: primary, > elemental, ancient, fore-, primal, greatgrand-, primitive, primeval, proto-, > and archetypal, in a quick search. > > These kinds of meanings makes this term especially interesting to use in > the dialectical senses you and Mike are giving it. The mixture of the > simultaneous senses of time and space gives the impression the word has had > a contradictory evolution. Ur was also an ancient city in Mesopotamia, one > of the oldest, became a world famous archeological dig, and is likely the > birthplace of Abraham. A lot seems to be packed into that two-letter German > prefix and its history! > > Did Marx, Engels or Hegel use the prefix 'Ur-' in a significant way? > > And who (if anyone knows) introduced terms such as "ur characteristic" and > "ur model" into English? What meanings are generally being given to these > terms? > > - Steve > > > > > On Jan 6, 2011, at 1:12 AM, Andy Blunden wrote: > > I'll respond to your question about the meaning of "ur," Steve. >> >> "Ur-" is a prefix that is used in German, actually. It has been around >> since the year dot in German, but it has become a bit of a fad recently for >> English speakers. >> Ur- is a prefix which means original or prototypical. I mostlly know it >> from Goethe's idea of /Urphaenomen/ which is the original of Vygotsky's >> "unit of analysis", should I say, the Urunit? This is because of >> Goethe/Hegel/Marx/Vygotsky's idea that in order to understand some complex >> process as a whole (i.e. a /Gestalt/) then you have to begin with the >> simplest unit of it, it's germ or cell. So the reference is to an >> (artefact-mediated) action as the ur- of psychology and cultivated human >> life. >> >> Does that help, Steve? >> >> Andy >> >> >> Steve Gabosch wrote: >> >>> ... "Generalizing Dual Stimulation. >>> >>> * The ur characteristic of higher psychologically (culturally mediated) >>> human action is that it operates indirectly, through the environment. >>> * DS method is the ur model of human action incorporates the environment >>> as tools for action. But it must be generalized into group as well as >>> individual circumstances." >>> >>> Mike urges the non-Russians at the conference to ask their fellow Russian >>> attendees what 'ur' means. >>> >>> So - to our fellow Russian speakers - what does 'ur' mean in Mike's >>> slide? >>> >>> >> __________________________________________ >> _____ >> xmca mailing list >> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu >> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca >> > > __________________________________________ > _____ > xmca mailing list > xmca@weber.ucsd.edu > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca > -- WORK as: Visiting Lecturer Wits School of Education HOME (please use these details) 6 Andover Road Westdene Johannesburg 2092 +27 (0)11 673 9265 +27 (0)82 562 1050 __________________________________________ _____ xmca mailing list xmca@weber.ucsd.edu http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca